Ulysses S. Grant: Victor of the American Civil War

this video is brought to you by blink is the first 100 people to go to blinkist.com forward slash biographics will get one week to try it out for free they'll also get 25 off the cost of a full membership more on them in a bit the american civil war was the worst cataclysm in the history of the united states americans killed each other by the hundreds of thousands burned and destroyed their own cities and nearly tore the entire country in two in the process it made many men interheroes on both sides and one of the foremost of these is ulysses s grant the civil war saved grant from a life of failure and obscurity his brilliant tactical and strategic acumen would see him rise to command the entire union army matching wits with the south's robert e lee he oversaw the final victory of the north over the south destroying the institution of slavery in the united states forever he helped oversee the reconstruction of the south first as commanding general and then as president of the united states he helped rebuild the economy of the country creating the department of justice to fight the ku klux klan and he laid the foundation of the modern federal government by establishing the civil service commission and yet grant died almost penniless and in historical analysis of his life more emphasis is given to his shortcomings and failures than his successes critics have called him a drunk a butcher a corrupt politician only recently has his reputation begun to be rehabilitated so why was history so unkind to ulysses s grants and what is the real story behind his remarkable life hiram munici's grant was born on april 22 1822 in point pleasant ohio a small community on the ohio river located 25 miles southeast of cincinnati his father jesse operated a tannery which young ulysses hated local children made fun of his naivety calling him useless grant but the young grant developed an affinity for taming and riding horses something that served him well throughout his life jesse grant figuring his son wasn't destined for the life of a merchant wrote to his congressman and secured an appointment for ulysses to the united states military academy at west point in 1839. when he was enrolled in west point a clerical era was made listing his name as ulysses s grant rather than fighting to have it changed grant lived with it and went by the name for the rest of his life his friends at the academy nicknamed him uncle sam grant because his new initials were u.s and just later shortened it to sam he was an indifferent student graduating in the middle of his class in 1843 but while he was there he became acquainted with many of the officers he would either serve with or fight against during the civil war the class of 1843 produced 15 union generals and three confederate generals out of 39 graduates grant's closest friends at the academy were frederick dent and james longstreet who both became generals one in the north and one in the south it wasn't long after graduating the young grant became swept up in the great political event of the 1840s the mexican-american war in 1836 citizens of the mexican province of texas revolted against mexico defeating the army of general santa anna and winning independence texas was in turn annexed by the united states in 1845. this immediately sparked tensions with the mexican government general santerana was still in power and was humiliated by his defeat at the hands of the texans what's worse the republic of texas claimed its border extended all the way down to the rio grande a claim adopted by the united states after it annexed texas mexico still viewed this as its territory and vowed to defend it james k polk had been elected president of the united states in 1844 on a vow to expand the territory of the united states by any means necessary under the philosophy of manifest destiny he was spoiling for a fight and in 1846 he finally got one when the united states went to war against mexico the us army invaded mexico striking out for mexico city one of the men in general zachary taylor's army was lieutenant unices s grant signed as a quartermaster he distinguished himself at the battle of monterey riding a horse past enemy snipers to deliver a dispatch for reinforcements grant's unit was transferred to a new army commanded by general winfield scott who invaded veracruz from the sea heading towards the mexican capital scott took the city in late 1847 and the united states forced mexico to cede not only the territory claimed by texas but the provinces of california and new mexico as well ending the war in february 1848 granted distinguished himself during scott's campaign and came out of the war with the rank of captain the mexican war had given grant and many other future civil war commanders valuable combat experience at one point during the war grant met another mexican war hero a lieutenant colonel named robert e lee but grant like many others thought the war to be morally unjust he saw it for what it was a war of territorial expansion of conquest which isn't something a democratic republic like the united states should be engaged in later he would opine that the civil war was divine retribution for the country's aggression against mexico [Music] [Applause] the war with mexico rather than uniting the country behind a common cause only deepened the regional tensions between the north and the south slavery hung over the country like a sword of damocles driving the country further apart ulysses s grant experienced this strife personally soon after the end of the war when grant returned home in 1848 he married julia dent the sister of his friend and classmate frederick his father refused to attend the wedding not because he disapproved of the marriage but because the dent family were prominent missouri slaveholders and jesse grant was an ardent abolitionist graham was transferred from one desolate army post to another on the frontiers of the country separated from his family and bored with the mundane nature of day-to-day barrack's life grant began to drink to excess this got him into trouble and he was forced to resign his army commission in 1854. he returned home then made a go at farming building a home he called hard scrabble on land given to him by his father-in-law it was a failure and grant at one point was so poor that he pawned his gold watch to buy christmas presents for his children in late 1858 after his farm failed his father-in-law gave him a slave named william jones slaves were incredibly valuable property grant could have gotten up to a thousand dollars for jones if he had sold him a large amount of money when the average salary was less than 20 a month but grants although not a political abolitionist like his father was personally opposed to the practice and in march 1859 he set william jones free by the end of 1860 grant had been reduced to a position as a clerk in his father's leather good store in illinois grant didn't support abraham lincoln in the presidential election that year but was still appalled by the succession of the southern states in the beginning of the civil war in april 1861 when lincoln called for 75 000 volunteers to put down the rebellion grant decided to put his army uniform back on to join the fight now before we get into the impending civil war i wanted to take a moment to give a quick shout out to today's video sponsor blinkist there's a lot of ways to find the time to sit down and read all the books you want you may have noticed that i'm a pretty busy guy i post a lot of these videos and i don't have as much time as i used to to read all the books i want indeed general grant might know what i'm talking about he spent a lot of his life busy whether that's fighting or drinking i mean who can be bothered to read books when there's perfectly drinkable whiskey lying around fortunately i have blinkist grant didn't which is an app that offers easily digestible 15-minute summaries of all the best non-fiction books and there are thousands of books in their catalog you can either read them or listen to them i'd personally recommend a book that i recently read and i very much enjoyed reading the blinkist version of it sort of a recap to get all the key pieces of knowledge from a long book that would be principles by ray dalio which is a great read check it out on blinkist personally i listen to books about ninety percent of the time just like a podcast or an audiobook is just easier to fit into the day while doing mindless things like commuting to work or just doing some chores around the house blinkist has 14 million active users and they get the best insights and need to know info from thousands of books self-help to business to health whatever you're into it's on there they also have excellent curated lists where the blink is team and also guests put together some specific recommendations like how to future proof yourself or just some of their favorites and of course you can download and listen to them offline the first hundred people to go to blinkers.com forward slash biographics you'll get a week to try it out and also get 25 percent off if you want the full membership again a seven day trial cancel at any time at blinkist.com forward slash biographics and let's get back to it grantod is recommissioning to the patronage of congressman elijah b washburn of illinois who knew grant as a fellow galena resident washburn secured grant's appointment first as colonel of a regiment of illinois volunteers and then as a brigadier general he engaged in some small battles with the confederate forces in southeastern missouri and in kentucky and in february 1862 conceived of a plan to capture two important confederate river forts in tennessee fort henry and fort donelson he captured both of them demanding immediate and unconditional surrender from confederate general simon bolivar bachner and his army of 12 000 inside fort donelson it was the first union triumph of the war and newspapers nicknamed him unconditional surrender grant promoted to major general graham was put at the head of the army of the tennessee some 40 000 strong from fort henry he moved south along the tennessee river and encamped at pittsburgh landing near a small meeting house called shallow church there he was to wait and link up with the army of the ohio commanded by don carlos buell advancing south from nashville and then together they would march on the city of corinth mississippi the confederate general albert sidney johnston wasn't going to sit around and wait for grant to be reinforced his army of mississippi was of a comparable strength to grants and he resolved to take the union army by surprise cut it off from the river and destroy it just before 6 am on april 6 1862 johnston's army was arrayed for battle less than two miles from the union army who didn't realize that they were coming grant decided to entrench his position because his army was green and he figured what they needed was more practice with their guns not with their shovels this was the start of a habit with grant to concern himself more with his own plans than those of his enemy when it worked it worked out well when it didn't it could be disastrous by 7 am the confederates were attacking the union lines the union men were taken completely by surprise and many initially broke and ran other units stood and fought but were pushed back under heavy fire the fighting was ferocious close range musketry basting entire lines of soldiers to bits on both sides key to the defense was one of grant's division commanders general william t sherman who seemed to be everywhere on his part of the battlefield he continuously rallied his men into a stubborn defense was wounded twice and had three horses shot out from under him nonetheless the confederates continued to advance until noon when their advance began to slow not only due to the union resistance but because the confederates had overrun the union camp and many soldiers who had run out of rations stopped to plunder food the confederates were further delayed by a union division commanded by benjamin prentice who put up a stubborn defense at a place called the hornets nest for several hours rather than bypass it the confederates kept charging it and taking heavy casualties prentice eventually ran out of ammunition and had to surrender his 2000 men but he bought enough time for grant to establish a firm defensive position near pittsburgh landing the confederate cause was weakened still further by the death of their commanding general johnston had been wounded behind his right knee and didn't realize how much he was bleeding because the blood filled his boot where no one could see it with no doctor to attend to him he bled to death on the field command now passed general pgt beauregard famous as the man who fired the first shot on fort sumter that began the war a year before beauregard sent a telegram to jefferson davis president of the confederacy announcing a complete victory i have grant just where i want him and can finish him up in the morning fighting paws for the night as both sides caught their breath it started to rain and the wet weather combined with the cries of the wounded made for a miserable night for both sides general sherman found grant standing under a tree sheltering from the rain and smoking a cigar well grant we've had the devil's own day haven't we sherman said grant cooley puffing his cigar replied yes lick him tomorrow though another general might have thought the prudent thing to do was to retreat or at least remain on the defensive but grant was being reinforced throughout the night by 20 000 fresh troops as bill's army arrived and he was not a general that enjoyed being on the defensive on that morning april the 7th it was grant's turn to attack and it was the confederate's turn to be surprised all day there was more vicious fighting until beauregard's army was driven from the field and the union army was left where it had started the day before the cost of the battle of chilo shocked the nation 13 000 union and ten thousand seven hundred confederate by far the bloodiest battle of the war to date the newspapers that had commended grant in february now castigated him blaming him for the high casualty counts and for being surprised on the first day of the battle the fact that he rallied in the night and won the battle on the second day was largely overlooked reporters spread rumors that grant was drunk during a battle in fact while grant had a problem with alcohol his entire life it is well known that he never drank while in battle or in the middle of a campaign nonetheless henry halleck the commander of the union armies in the west who personally despised and was perhaps jealous of grant used the battle to try and force grant out of the army abraham lincoln interceded on grant's behalf i can't spare this man he said he fights after being temporarily removed from command grant considered resigning from the army in the aftermath of shalom it was sherman who convinced him to stay and soon grant was back in action in january 1863 grant's army of the tennessee was to take the city of vicksburg mississippi vicksburg was the last confederate strong point on the mississippi river if it was taken by the union the confederacy would be cut in half with union naval vessels blockading all southern ports it would also remove the only overland route that the confederacy had to get supplies in from overseas vicksburg wasn't an easy fortress to crack though it was located on high hills that overlooked the river making it difficult to approach by ship the land to the north was an impossible maze of swamps rivers and bayous and the confederates had about 30 000 troops garrisoned there under the command of general john c pemberton and to make things worse grant's army was on the opposite side of the river as the city initially nothing grant tried worked he attempted to dig canals traverse bios and other attempts to get his army close enough to the city without exposing it to the fort's guns eventually he decided on a bold strategy he would march his army down south of vicksburg cross the river there and then march north to attack vicksburg from the east to do it admiral porter's gunboats needed to brave vicksburg's defenses to be in a position to ferry grant's army across the river on april the 16th ten boats made the attempt admiral porter saw that the confederate shells were hitting the tops of his ship so he maneuvered them as close to the shore on the same side as vicksburg as he could grant watched in satisfaction as the majority of the shells flew harmlessly overhead and missed the boats only one out of the ten boats didn't make it six more boats went past vicksburg on april 22nd again only one of them was destroyed on april 29th grant's army started crossing the mississippi over the course of the next three weeks grant waged a brilliant campaign outmaneuvering his confederate opponents and preventing garrison vicksburg from being reinforced then defeated pemberton's army at the battle of champion hill his army surrounding vicksburg and after two assaults failed to carry the city he settled in for a siege finally on july the 4th pemberton was forced to surrender the city and its garrison of twenty thousand men but it was just one day after robert e lee's army had been defeated at gettysburg and most people received the news of both battles at the same time causing jubilation in the north and despair in the south graham was now promoted to command of all the armies in the western theatre of war and were sent to deal with another pressing situation in tennessee in september 1863 the army of the cumberland commanded by william rosecrans had been defeated by confederate general braxton bragg at the battle of chickamauga rosecrans had retreated to the city of chattanooga followed by bragg who put the city under siege grant went to chattanooga with all available forces to break the siege and defeat bragg it was here that grant found himself opposed by his old friend james longstreet for the first time longstreet had been serving in robert e lee's army in the east but was sent to tennessee to reinforce bragg and was now one of bragg's lieutenants grant never one for defensive warfare sent his army out to the trenches to attack bragg's forces in two battles on november 24th and the 25th grant defeated bragg first at lookout mountain and then at missionary ridge routing the confederates with heavy losses [Music] [Applause] graham was now the union's most successful general and in march 1864 lincoln called him to washington he promoted grant to command all union armies with the rank of lieutenant general a rank that was last held by george washington grant decided that the best way to win the war was to overwhelm the confederacy militarily the rebels had grown skilled at managing the limited resources they had available shifting troops from one theater to another as needed grant proposed five simultaneous attacks on all parts of the confederacy which would prevent the various confederate forces from reinforcing each other of these two were especially crucial in the west william t sherman grant's friend and trusted subordinate who had succeeded grant as commander of the western theatre would invade georgia and capture the important city of atlanta but all eyes were on the eastern theater where the army of the potomac commanded by george meade but overseen by grant would take on robert e lee's army of northern virginia for the last two years lee had made fools out of one union commander after another he had consistently outflanked and outfought the army of the potome actor the point that his name was spoken with reverence in the south and with fear in the north the stories about him took on an almost mythical quality some said he couldn't be defeated in battle and that he was divinely inspired grant however wasn't impressed he crossed the rapper dan river and first encountered lee at the battle of the wilderness on may the 5th as with most battles of the civil war casualties were appalling but rather than retreat as his predecessors had done after a major battle grant attempted to move around lee's left flank trying to cut his army off from richmond the confederate capital and the army's base of supply what followed was a series of bloody battles called the overland campaign grant systematically worked his way deeper into virginia engagingly all the way grant suffered 55 000 casualties to lease 35 000 but lee could hardly afford to replace the many lost while grant had seemingly infinite reinforcements at his disposal after almost two months of continuous fighting grant had lee's army penned up outside the crucial rail hub of petersburg not far from richmond grant dug trenches and settled in for a siege he knew that he had lee where he wanted him it was just a matter of time but time wasn't something that grant and the union army had 1864 was a presidential election year and with the war bogged down and the slaughter growing worse every day there seemed a real chance that abraham lincoln would lose his bid for reelection his opponent george mcclellan was angry that lincoln had forced him out of the army and pledged that if elected he would end the war by any means necessary including signing a peace deal with the confederates that allowed them to keep their separate country it would also condemn the millions of slaves freed by lincoln's emancipation proclamation to a return to bondage grant was being called to butcher in the northern press because of the high casualties the army had suffered in the overland campaign particularly in battles such as cold harbor when the union suffered 13 000 casualties to the confederacy's five thousand the bottom line was that the union needed to make real progress in the war before the election in november or everything they had fought for might come to nothing salvation came in the form of general sherman after a bloody campaign and siege of his own sherman captured the city of atlanta in september as the confederates left the city they attempted to burn military supplies but the fire spread out of control and burned much of the city to the ground this victory extensively covered by jubilant northern newspapers practically guaranteed lincoln's re-election sherman then marched on the city of savannah destroying everything in his path an early example of modern total war tearing the guts out of the confederacy as he marched his army to the sea and then northwards through the carolinas meanwhile back in petersburg grant and lee's armies had dug miles of trenches in a scene that served as a prelude to the western front of world war one fifty years later grant patiently extended his line stretching lee's army thinner and thinner until by the end of march it was a breaking point on april 2nd grant ordered an assault that captured petersburg and forced lee to abandon richmond which was captured the very next day grant chased lee for another week before lee realized the game was up at appomattox on april the 9th lee surrendered to grant for all intents and purposes the civil war was over [Music] on april the 14th five days after the surrender of lee grant and his wife were supposed to accompany the lincolns to ford's theater in the evening but ultimately declined the invitation in favor of spending time with his children the grants were in philadelphia that night when he received word that lincoln had been shot by an assassin for the rest of his life he would feel guilty that he wasn't there to protect his president who he called the greatest man i have ever known most historians agree however that if grant had been with lincoln that night it's likely grant would have been killed too as the commanding general was targeted by booth's group and he disliked carrying weapons anyway grant as commanding general at the army was now responsible for overseeing the military occupation of the south during reconstruction he found in andrew johnson a much more difficult president to deal with than lincoln johnson wanted to end reconstruction as quickly as possible even if that meant undoing the gains made by african americans after the abolition of slavery johnson fought with congress and with his own cabinet and was impeached by the house of representatives in 1868 coming very close to being removed from office grant meanwhile was a national hero and a darling of the republican party in 1868 he was nominated by the republicans for president an office he hadn't sought but wasn't going to turn down either he won in a landslide and he took office in march 1869. like many generals who go on to become politicians grant found the qualities that benefited him in the army were detrimental to him in the political arena the military is an autocracy the generals give orders and the soldiers obey but in politics leaders must be masters of persuasion and in the aftermath of the war opinions could not have been more divided reconstruction would dominate grant's time as president grant was determined to continue the republican policy of reconstruction which included continuing occupation of the south by federal troops promoting organizations for newly freed slaves like the friedman's bureau and overall attempting to dismantle the antebellum power structure in the south that had promoted the idea of southern nationalism but he faced opposition from a variety of sources in the southex confederate soldiers formed secret groups including the ku klux klan to terrify african-americans and whites who helped them or supported the republicans with threats of violence that often turned bloody seeing in the clan the possibility of renewed fighting in the south grant was determined to stop them he established the department of justice as a federal cabinet department and charged his attorney general with prosecuting the clan congress passed the third enforcement act in 1871 which gave the president broad powers in combating the white supremacist groups in the south by the end of grant's first term the clan had been effectively destroyed and wouldn't be seen again in america for almost 50 years in order to accomplish his political ends grant was forced to ally himself with politicians like simon cameron and roscoe conklin senators who were more interested in how they could personally benefit from the machinations of office than actually helping people these politicians known as spoilsman or stalwarts built an elaborate system of patronage that filled the ranks of federal government jobs with political favorites the system was wildly corrupt filled with countless tales of bribery grafts grant's alliance with the stalwarts caused a faction of the republican party the liberal republicans to break with the rest of the party as they believed grant's entire administration was corrupt and they wanted reform further they opposed grant's reconstruction policies and wanted the troops out of the south they joined with the democrats who weren't so interested in reform but did oppose reconstruction nonetheless grant was easily re-elected in 1872. a lot of things went wrong all at once for grant during his second term the economy collapsed very suddenly in 1873 as railroad stock suddenly plummeted and investors panicked the administration was beset by scandal grant was not personally corrupt but he had a bad habit of trusting his associates especially former military colleagues who were corruption was eventually found in seven federal departments things came to a head in 1875 when the so-called whiskey ring was exposed whiskey distillers had been working with treasury agents to cheat the federal government out of distillation taxes and splitting the proceeds the string of government officers were indicted in the investigation including orville babcock the president's private secretary the scandals caused grant's administration to lose most of its credibility and combined with the economic depression and growing frustration over reconstruction it led to a government crisis as the 1876 election approached grant initially explored the idea of running for a third term as president but ever since george washington an unofficial tradition of a president not serving more than two terms was considered almost sacrosanct in washington and grant had few supporters within the republican party or congress he eventually decided against running again in 1876. the election was shrouded in controversy and was only settled after a backroom compromise gave republican candidate rutherford b hayes the presidency and returned for the withdrawal of troops from the south the nation had now abandoned reconstruction completely and all the old confederate states quickly established laws that made african-americans second-class citizens the so-called jim crow south that would last for almost 100 years because of the collapse of reconstruction and the numerous scandals many historians view grant's presidency as a failure but he did achieve a number of achievements during his eight years in office he established the nation's first national park yellowstone he founded the civil service commission in an attempt to combat the spoil system so prevalent during his administration which laid the foundation of the modern professional government he advocated for the ratification of the 15th amendment to the constitution which prohibited states from denying people the right to vote based on race and he was a strong supporter of civil rights especially for blacks jews and women after leaving office grant and julia embarked on a world tour meeting many world leaders including queen victoria otto von bismarck and emperor meiji of japan after two and a half years the grant arrived back in the united states in 1879. grant's old political allies tried to secure him the republican nomination for a third term as president in 1880 but were unsuccessful and the grants moved to new york city and invested in a brokerage firm but his business partner ferdinand ward was a swindler who ran the firm as a ponzi scheme and attempted to run off with the money when it collapsed grant was left penniless in 1884 grant was diagnosed with throat cancer probably caused by his near-constant cigar smoking the honest was terminal and he worried about leaving julia without any money to live on after he died grant's friend mark twain encouraged him to write his memoirs offering him a deal that would pay 70 of the royalties from sales of the book and unheard of amount at the time he worked tirelessly on the book for months despite failing health and extreme pain he finished the manuscript in july of 1885 and only a few days later on july 23 1885 ulysses s grant died at the age of 63. his funeral in new york city drew an estimated 1.5 million people including many veterans of the war on both sides he was buried in a temporary tomb in riverside park and 12 years later a permanent memorial grant tomb was finished and his remains were moved there joined by julia in 1902. she had lived the rest of her life on the proceeds from her husband's memoirs about 450 000 almost 13 million dollars in today's money at the time of his death grant was considered one of america's foremost heroes ranking up there with george washington and abraham lincoln so what happened to grant's reputation since he obviously doesn't rank that highly now in the decades that followed grant's death the historical analysis of the civil war and reconstruction began to be increasingly dominated by pro-southern writers these historians most belonging to the so-called dunning school after columbia university professor william dunning took the view that southern succession wasn't driven by slavery but by states rights and the aggression of the north their story cast robert e lee as the hero who humbly defended the honor and property of his home against invaders and because every hero needs a villain they put grant in that role they revived charges by contemporary newspapers that grant was a drunken general who threw away the lives of his men and only defeated lee thanks to brute force southern whites developed the dunning school of thought into the lost cause philosophy that saw the confederacy as a noble cause and made southern generals into heroes and their northern counterparts into villains they used the lost cause philosophy throughout the first half of the 20th century to justify the continuation of discrimination towards african americans graham was an unwilling victim of this and it wasn't until the jim crow laws began to be torn down in the 1960s that his reputation underwent reevaluation from modern historians today after the publication of a number of biographies from more objective writers grant is viewed in a more favorable light by many americans than he was 60 or 70 years ago ulysses s grant is without a doubt one of the most important figures in american history he perhaps did more to win the war for the union than any man except for abraham lincoln keeping the country from being split into two and abolishing slavery his military tactics are still studied today at military academies worldwide and his presidency well not as successful as his army career still accomplished a number of important achievements when you consider where he started with where he ended up it is a truly remarkable rise and the united states is better off for his service so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe also please do check out our fantastic sponsor blinkist link to below and thank you for watching

Channel: Biographics

Views: 500,908

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: dkEv515UQ4A

Length: 30min 15sec (1815 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 25 2021